Hot Mama Health & Fitness Blog

Screw the Scale

I’ve eaten well for a month. I drank my water. I’ve worked out 5 days a week for 4 weeks. I feel strong and mighty and really effin’ good. My clothes are fitting better. I have way more energy. I’m sleeping better. I’m a happier and more energized me. Oh yeah, look at me taking care of myself and feeling fit, healthy and strong. I am fierce. I am a force to be reckoned with.

But…today is weigh-in day.

I do my workout. I go pee. I take off every piece of clothing I can possibly take off, including my hair elastic. I slowly, slowly, slowly and ever-so-gently sneak up of my scale and eeeeeease myself onto it…

DAMMIT! “E”…error. Too slow. Okay, I need to sneak up on the scale more quickly, but not so quickly that it feels like an elephant just jumped on it.

Move “lightly”. Think “light” thoughts.

Take two. Go pee again to make sure I haven’t retained any water in the last 30 seconds. Maybe I can poop. Can I poop? No. Okay. Damn.

I stare down my little white, square opponent. I own you, scale. I. Own. You. (I do literally own it, but today I own it in like a fierce “YOU’RE MINE” way). I need to get on the scale gently but more quickly so I can get the reading.

Okay. Exhale all the air and gingerly step onto the scale….it’s flashing. 1 flash. 2 flashes, this is gong to be amazing, 3 flashes aaaand…

All that work. All that healthy food. All those burpees, pushups, lunges and sprints. I ate so much salad and kale my skin is turning green. And for what? For what? So I can gain 2 damn pounds?! DAMMIT! Dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT! Oh yeah scale, I’ll show you.

Well…nevermind then. Downstairs I go, I know I have some peanut butter cups hidden in the veggie drawer and those things are mine now. Forget everything I’ve done for the past month, it obviously doesn’t work. I’m disgusting. I’m weak. I’m fat, unfit and a disappointment to myself and my entire family. This food will make me feel better…and where’s the wine? Oh yes…where is the wine?

Sound familiar?

Oh, Mama. We give so much power to those stupid numbers on the scale. We go from feeling strong and healthy to hating our bodies and feeling disgusting in the flash of a number. Why? Why do we give those numbers such power?

Well, Mamas, it’s time. It’s time to get off the scale. Just step off it, walk it out to the curb, bash it with a sledgehammer, now throw it away.

It’s time women took back their power and their courage to love their bodies no matter where they’re at in life. If you’re 10lbs heavy, 20lbs heavy, 20 lbs light, 100lbs heavy, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how you feel. Those numbers do not define you. They don’t make you a better Mother, a better partner, a better person.

Those numbers do not define you. They don’t make you a better Mother, a better partner, a better person. Those numbers tear you down week after week after week. So…screw the scale. Just SCREW IT.

It’s time to talk about health and fitness, not the numbers on your freakin’ scale. It’s time to talk about how you feel in your skin. It’s time to talk about heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol. The scale only tells you one side of your story and I’ll hazard a guess that it does more damage to how you speak about your body than anything else in your life.

Here’s what the scale doesn’t tell you:

The scale doesn’t tell you how strong and capable you are.

The scale doesn’t tell you how far you’ve come on your fitness journey.

The scale doesn’t tell you how much muscle you have.

The scale doesn’t tell you how loved you are.

The scale doesn’t tell you how confident you are or how confident you should be.

The scale doesn’t tell you that you’re worthy, valued and the heart of your family.

Those numbers on the scale have the power to take all the love, all the worth, all that value away from you. It does. Because we let it.

It’s time to step off the scale. Measure your worth and your self-love by how you feel. It’s time to reflect on your body and all the gifts it has given you. You’re here. Living in this body. It’s time to stop defining your worth by a number. It’s time to start honouring your body for the magnificence that it is.

Remember all your body has given you. It gives you life. It carries you through each and every day. It fights for you every single day. It doesn’t quit. It doesn’t stop. It is the one constant in your life.

Take a moment to feel how you feel in your body.

If you don’t like it…CHANGE IT.

If you do…CELEBRATE IT.

Get off the scale, Mamas. It does more damage to you than you know. You’re not defined by the numbers on the scale. You’re defined by your health, your fitness and your mind. You get to set that tone. Nobody else.